Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Emily Dotson | Gaithersburg, MD
Emily Biegel | Calumet City, IL
students can handle and deserve the truth.
Wendy Cohen-Holbrook | Columbia, MD
Education is about providing students personal and civil power through knowledge. How can we raise thoughtful and responsible citizens without providing them facts to make good decisions?
Miaa Fisher | Ellicott City, MD
History is notorious for not being very pretty, American history is no different. We have come a long way in this country as African Americans but we still have much further to go. To help build a more honest and fair education system we cannot continue to misinform our children about history that may be confrontational and/or uncomfortable. History is a fact, and education is where we learn to discern fact from fiction. We need this misinformation to stop, here and now, and embrace the truth of our countries history for the sake of its future and the future of those who will one day run it and protect it.
Penny Smith | West Friendship, MD
it is vital for students to know the truth about the world's history. Germany teaches their students about the Holocaust so that children understand how terrible it was and in hopes that history will never repeat itself. This is a lesson we should take to heart. History is not always pleasant, but it is important to know.
Hilary Curtis | Dayton, MD
Amy Smith | Laurel, MD
It is important to have a truthful conversation and knowledge that systematic racism and oppression have caused continual inequity in our country.
David Watson | Baltimore, MD
Education should be devoted to teaching the truth regardless of whether one agrees or doesn't feel comfortable with the story we teach. History is His-story, but typically written by the "winners." History should be taught from the perspectives of ALL..."winners" and "losers" so that students can get all information needed to form their own values and opinions based on those values.
Elizabeth Diaz | Columbia, MD
One of my most important responsibilities as an educator is to strengthen my students' abilities to think critically about the world around them. In order to fulfill this promise to my students, I must allow them access to all aspects of our country's past and present.
Pattie Holy-Ilenda | Elkridge, MD
The truth should be indisputable. History will only repeat itself if educators lie and teach "fake news" and misinformation. The oppressed will only grow in number if tyranny and white privilege are allowed to flourish. My students come from every creed, race, background, and lifestyle. Each and every one of my students should know they belong and are celebrated just as they are. Additionally, my students should learn that bigotry and hate have no place in our classroom, school, and society. If I am propelled to lie about issues that have had an impact upon the development of our nation as a result of laws made by myopic and bigoted politicians, then I may as well be telling my students that their stories do not matter, and I will not do that. I stand against all laws that require me to teach anything but the truth.
Sabrina Dailey | Ellicott City, MD
I disagree with any legislative attempts to re-write and/or omit historical truths. As a Black woman in my early sixties, I have always had to deal with someone else's version of history, which was not always (hardly ever, actually) completely factual. I never thought that the progress that I have witnessed in my lifetime would go so far backwards, so quickly. Let's face our faults as a nation and tell the TRUTH, even if it hurts.
Laura Swann | Elkridge, MD
I want to teach the truth in our schools.
Lisa Katzen | Fulton, MD
Historical facts should not be altered to suit people's feelings. A free, democratic society looks to the past to create a more fair and just future for all of its people.
Ariana Justice | Baltimore, MD
I will not lie to my students about the impacts of society. My students come from every background. They already know that their race, sexuality, gender, etc. affect them. I will not be a part of lying to them.
Stephanie Tam | Columbia, MD
Our students deserve and need to know the whole truth and not just the bits and pieces we were told when we were in school. Students ad all people have the right to make their own mind up and as an educator it is my duty to educate the whole TRUTH.
Aimee Kandelman | New Market, MD
Katie Drame | Bronx, NY
Andrew JeanPierre-Foy | Douglasville, GA
Let's agree to teach the WHOLE panorama of US History. Not just the 33%, whitewashed slice of it. This will NOT harm or brainwash white children. It will: - Better prepare them for an increasingly diverse, multicultural workplace. - Give them the skills & racial literacy they need to work healthily & successfully with future co-workers of color.- Expose them to the contributions of poor white folks throughout history who have fought alongside black, brown, and indigenous communities who've won programs, policies, and laws that've benefited EVERYONE.
Guillermo Kuhl | Cumming, GA
Genevra MacPhail | Burlington, VT
Dov Lebowitz-Nowak | Brooklyn, NY
Tamara Muhammad | Lemon Grove, CA
I believe we have a responsibility to teach children facts, not personal opinions.
Anna Fris
For us to move forward as a nation and as human beings , we must teach all the history of all the people. We have no hope of moving forward toward a democracy that is true to our constitution if our citizens ane not taught true history from all viewpoints.
Sylvia Branchcomb | Yonkers, NY
Brandon Garrison | Trimble, MO
Covering up the truth and changing history in service of a farse narrative is not only unpatriotic, but a threat to democracy & our republic. There are those who would have you believe otherwise, but historical record and the blood of the American people, past and present, speak louder than any lies that may be conjured. The only way to prevent further oppression is to learn from our sincere past and do our damndest to stand resolute in that cause.
Selected Pledges
Click on pledge below to read many more.
As an educator who is serious about teaching the truth I will not be bullied into silence. I will do my part in the fight for equity and equality by making sure my students are most equipped to fight this ugliness in the real world.
Yes, the truth of American history needs to be taught, but also its impact on the rest of the world, such as its role in WWII. I just finished teaching a college-level course on the Holocaust, and could not believe how little the students knew about the rest of the world’s participation in the war! They seemed to believe that WWII was ended by the US alone!
“When you begin to do things that raise the achievement of the poorest and disenfranchised students, you may not always get applause. You need to be ready for that.” Dr. Asa Hilliard
“Resistance is a powerful motivator precisely because it enables us to fulfill our longing to achieve our goals while letting us boldly recognize and name the obstacles to those achievements.”
Dr. Derrick Bell
Our young people deserve the truth and it is our kuleana (responsibility) to give space and opportunity for the truth and the difficult conversations.
If we don’t teach it all, we teach nothing…
Social justice is a major theme of my Humanities 7 course, and my school uses Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s HILL framework (development of identity, skills, knowledge, Criticality) to frame our entire curriculum. Student agency through research work and essay writing, and action-oriented civic engagement work, define what we “cover” in my course.